Accounts - Charts and graphs

Accounts - charts

To make things easy lets look at the system default account "Cash". If you understand the charts and totals for this account you will understand the same for any other account type.

On accounts and payments screen you will always see a chart that looks more or less like this:

Along with the totals for the account that show something like this:

The chart is a time line that represents the history of the balance on the account. Unlike in AT-T commercials this graph represents the truth and does not always go up. It reflects the balance of each day marked in the software for a withdrawal or deposit. The balance between is the point on the chart. As long as the line does not cross 0 on X axis your balance is positive. Any time the line goes up you have a positive cash flow and anytime it goes down you have a negative cash flow. Once it crosses 0 and dives deeper in to negative values you are going broke. Hopefully you will never see that happening.

The software shows two totals for the account. The Running Capital and the Ending balance for selected time frame. It may seem confusing at first because those values not always match the totals displayed on statistics and hardly ever match each other. (when you have more then a year worth of data). Why is that?

Running Capital

The Running capital is your total account balance from the day you started that account, or rather from the date of the first entry to that last. So if you have two years worth of data and you had your ups and downs the total deposits minus total withdrawals is your running capital. This is where your business stands at today.

The Ending balance for selected time frame

When you view your accounts you can set a time frame that you are interested in. For instance first quarter of 2007.

The totals for that time frame would show:

And the chart looks like this:

The running capital shows $3,085.15, a positive number, but a bad one. $45,000 would be much more better. But here we are. The Ending balance for the time frame however is $2,833.74, thus at the end of the first quarter in 2007 the business total was $2,833.74. If you look close at the chart you will see that there were losses and the balance went below 0 line. So if for instance we would select a shorter time frame that would end on February First of 2007 the ending balance would show -$1253.42. (see the deep dive on the chart)

As it stands in this example the business ended up with $2,833.74 of positive cash made after all the expenses, payments etc.

So why is the ending balance sometime does not match the totals on stats report? The Cash account also has information about payments deducted from the trips. Payroll deduction. And as in any payroll deduction the money deducted from the trip you do today will cover the payment on the next pay period. So if in December 2006 you had deductions to cover payment in January 2007 that payment will show up in the Cash account in 2007. But the trip is done in 2006 and is not included in calculation because it is outside of the time frame.

Same is true if you record an expense for a trip and date it with a date that falls outside of the time frame selected on the Cash (or any other) account.

Same is true if you record an expense for a trip and date it with a date that falls outside of the time frame selected on the Cash (or any other) account.

The Running Balance will also show different number from the stats for a time frame because Running balance is the total deposits minus total withdrawals for the entire length of the account. For instance in the 2006 you have made a lot of money and your running balance is $60,000, but in first quarter of 2007 you have taken huge losses. Thus your running balance will hover in high numbers (you did not loose all your money) but your stats for that quarter will show negatives, because you spent more money then you made.

To illustrate that lets look at another driver:

This driver shows steady growth in 2006, almost like AT-T commercial, but in 2007 the fuel prices went up, some major repairs had to be done to the truck and trailer and the freight rates did not go up, but instead wend down a bit. So in 2006 we are doing well. But when the 2007 hits the chart hits a plateau.

Let look closer at that plateau:

With all the ups and downs the driver ends up making only $3,756.20 in the whole of 2007, while in 2006 he managed to make $65,981.10. At the end of 2007 the balance is $69,737.30. This is what you call a bad year.

If the time frame we selected would end on January 14 2007 the Ending balance for the time frame would show negative while the running capital would be around $65,000.

Charts for Payment accounts

With the payment accounts the charts are simple. They steady go up just like AT-T commercial. The time line represents the deposits (payments) made to that account. Since it is a payment account the driver can not draw from it. Those accounts should never show a negative balance.

Charts for Savings accounts

The driver makes deposits to the saving account, but also withdrawals, So the chart will show up and down the balance on that account just as on "Cash account"